Thousands of people packed the Georgia Dome for a religious rally on Saturday night, but after much hype, embattled megachurch preacher Eddie Long was a no-show.

Long has said he will not step down or step aside from his position has head of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church while he fights allegations of sexual misconduct brought by several young men from his church, but it looks like he may have decided to go incogNegro for a while.According to ThatB*tch:

For the last few Sunday’s there have been guest preachers at New Birth Missionary and while Bishop Long still attends church, he explains his increasingly lesser role by telling? his congregation he needs to spend more time with his family and that “God wanted him to rest and be refreshed, and that from time to time the congregations would see him sitting so he could hear “what God is saying so I don’t miss anything.”

Also very telling was Long’s no-show at Stand. The Stand is an annual church meeting at the Georgia Dome that draws 30,000 to 40,000 faithful each year. All week church leaders were very cautious about saying whether or not Bishop Long would speak at Stand this year.

Earlier in the week Long’s spokesperson released a statement saying “Bishop Long has supported Stand from its inception and is looking forward to being in attendance for the Stand Campaign at the Georgia Dome this coming weekend.”

Long was a no show and sent the following message to news outlets regarding his absence:

“Due to a family emergency, Bishop Eddie Long regrets that he was unable to attend the STAND campaign.”

It was unclear what the nature of the emergency was, and Long?s son remained tight-lipped. “I’m just here to support, we’ve got our student ministry out here, and other teens just to be a voice,” Long?s son, Edward, said.

When WSB-TV news reporter Howell asked if it was a tough decision for his father not to come, Edward Long just stared back.

(source)